A bullet was allegedly fired inside a coal trading company’s Sarat Bose Road office on Saturday afternoon.
There was no casualty, police said. CCTV footage showed two men entering the building around 1pm on Saturday. One of them allegedly fired, according to a police complaint filed by an official of the company.
Till Sunday night, no one was arrested.
The apartment is around 500m from Beltala Motor Vehicles.
Senior officers of the detective department, accompanied by officers from Ballygunge police station, visited the spot and questioned officials of the company and others in the building.
The alleged shooting happened on the second floor of the six-storey commercial building. The assailants had allegedly threatened a guard at gunpoint before heading towards the second floor, the police said.
The second and third floors have offices of the coal trading company.
“CCTV footage shows two people in jeans and jackets entering the building and taking the stairs to reach the second floor. They are also seen coming out and leaving on a bike,” said an officer of the detective department.
Based on the written complaint by the official of the company, the police have drawn up a case against “unknown persons” under Sections 387 (extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and under the arms act.
“The two had approached a guard, asking for a director of the company. When he wanted to know who they were, one of them brandished a gun. The guard gave the location of the office,” said the officer.
A shot was heard a little while later, the guard and a couple of others in the building are said to have told the cops.
Another person who has an office in the same building said the men had first approached a florist just outside the apartment for the address.
It was not immediately clear if both men were able to enter the second-floor office or the shot was fired from outside. It was also not clear how many people were inside the office at the time of the alleged firing.
The trading company has its registered office in Marshall House, another commercial building, on NS Road in Dalhousie.
When this newspaper visited the apartment on Sunday, it was deserted.
The police are questioning officials of the company and its directors. “Coal belt operations often mean interactions with strongmen. We are looking into all aspects, including a business deal gone wrong,” said an officer.
Police sources said the probe had just started but the alleged firing might be an “attempt to warn” people running the coal trading company over some “financial dues”.